Stephan is the owner of Fly Cape Town Paragliding. He is an avid tandem, competition and aerobatics paragliding pilot He loves to share the joy of paragliding flight with anyone who is keen...He is also a qualified paragliding instructor and a paragliding endurance athlete.

Description: Home of the Glen Paragliding Club, a consistent and beautiful site to fly, offering a panorama of Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles. In the afternoon, Lions Head heats up and generates a thermic, upslope breeze. Parking is on the back (Capetown side) of Lions Head, then a stiff hike is required up the gravel road and around to the front side. Because of the spire-shape of the peak, the wind diverges around it, causing a strong increase in wind speed at both takeoff sites when it is soarable. The wind is usually crossed from the left (S) at the top site and very strong, and crossed from the right (NW) at the lower site. Dont pioneer a new launch site somewhere else on the mountain.

Now I will try to explain in what type of weather conditions you can paraglide from Lions Head.

1) The South Easterly wind shadow

The South Easterly wind is a low level wind with a reverse wind gradient (stronger on the ground and weaker in altitude).

Generally speaking for a Wind Shadow to form you need the following elements :

We get the formation of a Wind Shadow mostly in the warmest parts of our weather season but it is possible in the middle of Winter as well.

The red lines indicate the direction of the airflow of the South easterly wind. As mentioned before the South Easterly wind is a low level wind and is prevented / blocked from flowing over Lions Head by Table Mountain.

The yellow area is where the wind shadow generally sets up. Looking out towards the ocean from Lions Head a distinct line can be seen on the ocean with a slight differance in colour indicating the presence of a wind shadow.

Paragliding Cape Town SE wind shadow at Lions Head showing warning signs of breaking down

The white cloud that starts to form between Devils Peak and Maclears Beacon on the left and Llandudno and Judas Peak to the right now indicates that there is an increase in the strength of the south easterly wind.

The cold South Easter flowing from False bay starts to condensate as it gets pushed up against the back of Table Mountain. The size of the flyable area in yellow now starts to decrease and whitecaps / white horses can often be seen outside of the yellow area.

Stephan is the owner of Fly Cape Town Paragliding. He is an avid tandem, competition and aerobatics paragliding pilot He loves to share the joy of paragliding flight with anyone who is keen...He is also a qualified paragliding instructor and a paragliding endurance athlete.

The picture below shows the Southerly airflow on Lions Head when the wind is too strong to take off from

the Top take off – 30km/h +

The yellow circles are the areas that generally work well to get to the top of mountain.

The purple areas now become areas of danger and should be avoided at all cost.

Due the the shape of Lions Head, the wind accelerates on the sides of the mountain creating a dangerous “venturi” effect.

If you find yourself stuck in the strong wind just below the top take off, try to use the ridge to climb as much as possible, if you can climb then make a wide right turn away from the ridge and run for the Sea Point promenade.

Stronger Southerly airflow on Lions Head

The small yellow circle on the picture below is the Bottom take off.

If you are standing on the Bottom take off facing the ocean, you will see that there is a spine running down the mountain towards the Camps Bay High School sports field.

If you are unable to get up, follow the route marked with the yellow arrows. This is the windward side of the spine. The lee side of the spine is often a little turbulent and chances are good that you will get flushed here.

The yellow arrows indicates the best line to take when flying out towards landing.

The wind is often stronger on the landing field, always approach from the upwind side and then drift back to land in the field.

Best line to take when flying out towards landing

Southerly convergence

We often experience some strange convergence that sets up just above the Camps Bay High School field.

The yellow area is where you would find this convergence line, dont be frightened by this.

Try to avoid the blue area just above Clifton 4th beach as this area is often very turbulent.

The convergence usually sets up just before it blows out, so keep your eyes on the ocean for signs of increasing wind.

If you see white horses / whitecaps it is time to go land.

Convergence line

In the next part I will discuss flying Lions Head in a South Westerly wind.

Paragliding Lions Head – How and When (part2) October 31st, 2016Stephan Kruger

Stephan is the owner of Fly Cape Town Paragliding. He is an avid tandem, competition and aerobatics paragliding pilot He loves to share the joy of paragliding flight with anyone who is keen...He is also a qualified paragliding instructor and a paragliding endurance athlete.

The South Westerly wind is definitely the best wind direction to have to paraglide from Lions Head.

The image above displays the general airflow in a south-westerly wind.

Paragliding in the South Westerly is pretty much straight forward.

You need at least 15km/h of wind on the Top take off site for Lions Head to be soarable.

If it becomes too strong to launch from the Top take off site you will face cross wind airflow from the NW on the bottom take off.

The best way to take of from the bottom take off is by doing a reverse launch and making sure that the left side of your wing comes up first.

Yellow circle shows area to fly in a SW wind

The image above displays the area where you should fly in.

If you stick to flying in the yellow circle you should have no problems to reach the summit and above in no time. Once you are above the peak of Lions Head you are now free to explore all other areas, as long as you are high above the peak.

The image above displays the dangerous areas marked in green on the sides of the mountain.

We often experience strong Venturi effect (as shown in the green marked areas) on the sides of the mountain when it becomes soarable. This wind can be strong enough to blow you over the back and get you into deep trouble.

When taking off from the bottom take off, make an immediate right hand turn to move into the middle area of the mountain. The green X marks a big rock right in the middle of the slope. Start making a left hand turn when you pass the rock as you go down wind toward the dangerous areas of the mountain. You will see that it takes quite a while for you to complete the turn as you move closer towards the Venturi area.

If you find yourself stuck in the Venturi you can apply the same techniques as discussed in Part 2 of the series.

The same rules as discussed in part 2 also applies when flying out towards landing. Approach far upwind from the landing area.

We often experience nice SW wind on the mountain only to find a much stronger Southerly wind at landing. By flying far upwind from landing when you are still high and then drifting back you will eliminate the risk of not getting to the landing field.

You should always keep a look out for the increase of wind speed on the ocean like white horses or whitecaps. If you do see some white caps it would be best to rather fly out and go land.

In part 4 we will talk about the various locations of the house thermals.

Paragliding Lions Head – How and When (part3) October 31st, 2016Stephan Kruger

Stephan is the owner of Fly Cape Town Paragliding. He is an avid tandem, competition and aerobatics paragliding pilot He loves to share the joy of paragliding flight with anyone who is keen...He is also a qualified paragliding instructor and a paragliding endurance athlete.

In this part we will look at the locations of the “House” thermals. Knowing where they are could be the differance between one of those absolutely magic paragliding flights or a short “foofie” which to me is a blessing as well….

House themals on Lions Head

The image above shows the house thermals on on the South-Western side. The two most reliable house thermals are the two coming from the two big rocks right in the middle of the slope and just below the path that takes you to the Top take off site.

House thermals on Lions Head

The image above shows the thermals on the South to South-Eastern side. Please remember that should explore these areas in a very well developed Wind shadow and make sure that you have enough height to make the glide to the designated landing area.

House thermals on Lions Head

The image above shows the house thermals on the Western side of Lions Head. The strongest thermal can be found on the big rock right in the middle of the slope. In wind shadow conditions we often find nice gentle thermals over the rocky areas, especially in the morning as this side of the slope gets more sunlight.

Paragliding Lions Head – How and When (part4) October 31st, 2016Stephan Kruger

Stephan is the owner of Fly Cape Town Paragliding. He is an avid tandem, competition and aerobatics paragliding pilot He loves to share the joy of paragliding flight with anyone who is keen...He is also a qualified paragliding instructor and a paragliding endurance athlete.

To master the take off from the bottom take off area in the magical South-Westerly wind is a trick on its own and if not carefully executed, you are almost guaranteed to put your paraglider in the trees.

The take off

Paragliding-Lions-Head-Take-Off

The image above displays the take off area with the classic SW flow presenting itself as a Westerly. The red arrow indicates the wind durection.

The Layout

Paragliding-Lions-Head-Layout

The paraglider should be laid out as far as possible in the top right corner when facing the mountain. You will do a reverse launch. The left wingtip should be placed with a slight arc down the mat and the right wingtip completely parallel with the top of the take off area. The red arrow indicates the wind direction.

The Inflation

The left wingtip marked in yellow should always be inflated first. you need to walk backwards down the take off area and once the wingtip is inflated, back up underneath the paraglider and move slightly to the left as the yellow arrows indicate.

Brake pressure

It is of utmost importance to keep maintaining lots of brake pressure on the left wingtip to ensure complete inflation of the right wingtip as well. The brake pressure on the left wingtip will prevent the glider from flying to the right into the trees.

The Run

Now that your paraglider is fully inflated and facing straight into wind you can ease of the brake pressure, turn around and gently apply a little bit of left brake pressure and run towards to bottom right corner of the mat when facing towards Campsbay, and voila! You are airborne…..

Paragliding Lions Head – The bottom take off November 1st, 2016Stephan Kruger